This Capacity Building Project (CBP) is being funded under Phase two of the Readiness Fund of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) being managed by the World Bank (WB). The CBP has two components, one for forest-dependent indigenous peoples and another for Southern Civil Society Organizations and Local Communities. Its objective is to provide forest-dependent indigenous peoples, and Southern CSOs and local communities with information, knowledge, and awareness on REDD+ to enhance their understanding on REDD+, and to enable them to engage more meaningfully in the implementation of REDD+ readiness activities. The aim is to support activities that empower and enable these stakeholder groups, to enhance and influence REDD+ development outcomes, and also to strengthen mechanisms for inclusion, accountability, and participation. It is being implemented through the WB’s “Procedures for Small Recipient-Executed Trust Fund Grants”.

Tebtebba Foundation (Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy Research and Education) was chosen as the Recipient for the East Asia-Pacific and South Asia region. The project beneficiaries are forest-dependent IPs and their representative ‎organizations and institutions in the ten FCPF eligible countries in Asia and the Pacific‎, ‎namely Bhutan, Cambodia, Fiji, ‎Indonesia, ‎Nepal, Pakistan, ‎Papua ‎New ‎Guinea, Thailand, ‎Vanuatu and Vietnam which are eligible to participate ‎in regional learning and exchange activities (Component 2). Of these ‎ten countries, six (6) countries are eligible to ‎participate in national-level activities (Component 1), namely Bhutan, Fiji, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Vietnam. This is the first progress report prepared for the project, covering the period of project effectiveness (October 31, 2016) to June 30, 2017.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

The project development objective (PDO) is to strengthen: (i) the knowledge of targeted forest-dependent indigenous peoples on REDD+ Readiness at the national level and (ii) knowledge exchange at the regional level.

COUNTRIES OF IMPLEMENTATION

This project with a total budget of US$490,750 is being implemented in FCPF countries in East Asia, the Pacific and South Asia Regions, which are Bhutan, Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Vanuatu and Vietnam. Of these countries, only six (6) are eligible for funding support under Component 1 (national level capacity building), namely: Bhutan, Fiji, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Vietnam following eligibility criteria as detailed in the Operational Manual (OM).